Harjinder Kang, the UK trade commissioner for South Asia, has a stellar career that’s often defined by transitions. He has also worked as Director for Trade Policy in areas of Intellectual Property, Government Procurement and Core Text. Barring the government roles, Kang spent 30 years with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca – started out as a chemist which led him to research and development for radiopharmaceuticals and new antibiotics, and eventually heading global communications.
Immediately before taking up this role in South Asia, Kang was the UK’s chief negotiator for the ongoing discussions for the UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA). This coincides with the UK breaching the $1-trillion valuation in its tech sector, becoming the third country to do so after the United States and China.
Kang tells HT that pieces are being put together to allow better synergy between the two countries. But even then, companies find a way when there is the willingness to collaborate.
India will play an important role, and there is acknowledgement within the UK about that. The UK’s import of tech from India stood at £20.8 billion at the end of Q4 2022, an increase of 35% (or £5.4 billion) compared with 2021. Kang talks to us about the changing contours of the tech partnership between the two countries, the India-UK FTA, the focus areas for both countries, regulatory landscape and what Indian companies and start-ups look for when setting base in the UK. Edited excerpts:
Q. Your views on how the India and the UK Tech partnership will take shape over the next couple of years. What would be the core focus areas?
Harjinder Kang: I can answer it bluntly by saying everything that you can imagine could be done by a very good, close working relationship between the two countries! As you know, I’ve been the chief negotiator for the free trade deal on the UK side for the last two years. And what I’ve found talking to all the stakeholders, specifically UK companies and Indian companies, you get an idea that there’s a real hunger and passion to do stuff collaboratively. And they are looking at options to do that. How do you create those corridors everyone’s talking about, including tech? I just spoke to some people already in working in Manchester and Chennai, and they are examples of having created their own corridors.
My view is that there is more that we can do, and certainly my role is to be able to try and facilitate more collaboration in the different industries across the UK and India. Specifically, life sciences, green tech, health tech, financial services and fintech, the list can go on. But they’re really big opportunities to have complementary skills, and they offer very good solutions to some pretty serious problems. There’s a lot that the two countries can do together. The FTA will help some, but it’s not the be all and end all. I think the companies themselves already doing great.
Q. How will the FTA, as and when it is finalised, impact the tech partnership?
HK: There is, as you know in the trade agreement, typically a services chapter which is trade conducted through the digital medium. And we’re working very hard to create a solution for both sides to be able to accommodate that. There’s also a digital chapter. We’re trying to work on it to make sure it’s something that can help companies be able to collaborate across borders, rather than restrict trade or restrict collaboration. There are definitely things in there which will help. There are already companies working very well together, even without any of the FTA solutions and tools in place. The FTA will make it quicker, faster and easier to collaborate. But companies will still carry on doing it.
Q. UK has its advantages in terms of being a hub for innovation as well as ease of doing business. What other aspects would attract Indian tech companies and start-ups to set up bases here?
HK: I think the skilled labour force that must be one of them. Academic institutions must be one of them too. Certainly, when you look at ease of doing business, you mentioned it is one of the easiest places to set up. Do whatever you want to do when it comes to innovation, production development, you name it. There’s one other thing that I think is probably not as well discussed, and that’s the financing side of things.
If you look at the City of London, it is one of the biggest financial institutions in the world. So, when you look at the sort of capital requirements for start-ups and so on, guess who’s funding them? Is a lot of it coming out of London? I think those are the key areas. People talk about resources, then there’s money, and the regulatory frameworks that we talked about earlier. Then there’s also the security of investment. People need to feel that they put money in a country where it’s a stable democracy in place and it’s not going to disappear overnight.
Q. Is there the potential for some friction for companies working in both India and the UK, considering the regulatory landscape in both the countries is very different?
HK: This is where the FTA tries to narrow the gaps to see the regulatory environment is in the UK, and in India, and how we can minimise those differences. There is some difference, and it may cause friction, may halt some things or slow the pace. We just have to accept the fact that it is different. And if there’s a will, there’s a way, and that’s the way. Certainly, at the political level and at the ministerial levels, there have been lots of discussions. They are also the sort of dialogues that go on, on a regular basis. So that gives everyone some idea of how the two economies work.
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